Senior superlatives are a fundamental component of every yearbook. This year, for the first time, senior and the Orator’s Editor-In-Chief, Hayden Sheehan organized a ceremony to celebrate and honor the Class of 2025’s superlatives.
“As a senior, all you want to do is spend more time with the people you’ve grown up with and gone to school with,” Sheehan said. “I really wanted to do something that would bring us all together, preferably in a new and fun way that we’ve never done before to create a new memory.”
As Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook, Sheehan said she felt the responsibility to honor her class and bring the grade together through a fun and engaging celebration.
“Being in charge of the yearbook, I knew that people care a lot about the superlatives, and have fun doing that, so I thought that that would be a good opportunity to turn it into an event,” Sheehan said. “We obviously have a lot of fun characters at our school, and we have a very unique grade. I think just recognizing that and being able to celebrate the uniqueness in our grade is really unifying.”
Sheehan believes senior superlatives are a time honored tradition and are an essential piece in making yearbooks a long lasting heirloom.
“People don’t realize that my parents’ yearbooks still sit on the shelves in our house,” Sheehan said. “Yearbooks are a thing that you’re going to have for the rest of your life because it’s a solidified memory. You can see everyone who was in your grade, and it’s a way to remember everyone. I think senior superlatives are important, because you remember not only who was in your grade, but who they were as people.”
During the ceremony, Sheehan and senior Chase Hopkins presented each superlative before the entire grade. They began by introducing the candidates determined through earlier grade-wide voting before announcing the winners and crowning them with homemade crowns.
“I chose to participate in the ceremony because I wanted to be a part of this new tradition that was forming,” Hopkins said. “I think it’ll be a really exciting event for years to come, and I thought it would be really special if I was able to participate in the first one.”
Senior Ava Johnson, who was awarded the superlative soul sisters with senior Cate Barton, said the ceremony made her feel celebrated and was a fun and hilarious way to honor some of her fellow classmates.
“I loved the ceremony so much,” Johnson said. “I thought it was so funny, and I loved all the little intro speeches to each superlative. I felt so honored to be recognized in this way because all my friends were cheering for me, and it was so fun.”
Johnson said she felt the camaraderie of the grade grow as everyone gathered together and recognized some characters in the senior grade.
“I think our grade has a lot of very funny, interesting and unique people, so it was great to recognize a couple of them,” Johnson said. “I particularly loved watching them decide the smallest and shortest people. I thought it was hilarious. I think that this activity really helped bring our grade together because, at times, we feel so separated.”
To make the ceremony more engaging, Sheehan and Hopkins introduced each superlative with a fun and humorous speech.
“A lot of time went into organizing [the speech],” Sheehan said. “Me and the other seniors in the [yearbook] class were planning on hosting the event, which we did, but we were planning on just announcing the awards. Me and my good friend Chase Hopkins ended up wanting to set it up and write little speeches for each award to further honor and also make it even more fun.”
Sheehan hopes in the future, each superlative can be introduced by a senior or staff member who wishes to participate in the ceremony.
“My original idea of the event was that whoever wanted to in the senior class would come up and present an award,” Sheehan said. “You didn’t have to be a part of the yearbook, you didn’t have to be in a certain number of clubs, anyone can come up and present an award, talk about their friends and maybe the nominees and give a different perspective to the people who are up for the award than one person could. I really wanted some diversity with the people coming up, but I don’t think the memo got across that well, just because it was the first year. I’m really hoping that people will get the memo in the future.”
Hopkins said the ceremony was a success and she hopes this can become a senior tradition for years to come.
“I think it will become a tradition for years to come because of how well this first ceremony went, and that is completely because of the amount of work that the yearbook staff put in,” Hopkins said. “This would be a really fun thing to continue to do for years to come because it really puts into perspective who people think fit into the rules of the senior superlatives.”
